East Coast ports have been eagerly anticipating the expansion of the Panama Canal to allow megaships (of course, not the most mega of megaships, but 1.5 times larger than the previous [...]
Every week, we post inquiries on Universal Cargo Management’s Facebook and Twitter pages asking what you want to read about in our international shipping blog. Yesterday–Monday, March [...]
When it comes to freight rates, the international shipping industry has always been a volatile ride. Imagine going up and down the waves of choppy waters in a small boat. Freight rates tend to [...]
Freight rates are massively spiking in the wake of Iranian-backed Houthi Rebel attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Literally hundreds of ships are being rerouted away from the Suez Canal. Spot [...]
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels continue to attack ships in the Red Sea. They hit the Liberian-flagged cargo ship Al Jasrah today, which set the ship on fire, as reported by Jon Gambrell in [...]
The last post was about how nobody knows anything about what will happen with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) contract negotiations, with its potential to highly disrupt [...]
CEO of Hapag-Lloyd Rolf Habben Jansen told CNBC that he thinks international shipping’s peak season is going to come early this year. Lori Ann LaRocco reported: “I would also expect that [...]
The situation in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea, forcing ocean freight carriers to route ships away from the Suez Canal, got worse yesterday (Wednesday, March 6th). Antisemitic, Iran-backed Houthi [...]
Shippers should make no plans for a return to ocean freight routes through the Suez Canal in the near future. Perhaps the most damaging attacks in the Red Sea area so far happened on Sunday. [...]
What should shippers expect when it comes to freight rates in 2024? Predicting trends is never an easy thing, as international shipping's freight rates have always been highly volatile. Shippers [...]
Anti-Israel, Iranian-backed Houthi rebel attacks on container ships in the Red Sea. Freight rates spiking. Cargo delays. That's what has dominated international shipping news over the last few [...]
What were Universal Cargo's top blog posts of 2023? Every year, we like to count it down from 10 to 1, classic David Letterman style. Sometimes we do the top 10 international shipping news [...]
This is a guest post by Dylan Jacobson. Container ships are the unsung heroes of global trade, transforming the movement of goods worldwide. Their role is vital, as these colossal vessels serve [...]
Freight rates, particularly Asia to U.S. West Coast (USWC) freight rates, have increased by more than 100% since June. That's not too surprising, since we're in the peak season, and freight rates [...]
The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach suddenly shut down Thursday night. The closure of the country's busiest port complex continued Friday. "Terminals noted they closed due to labor [...]
To help shippers improve their international shipping, Universal Cargo’s blog often points out problems with, risks to, and likely disruptions in the supply chain. The goal of making [...]
There are many world events affecting current and upcoming ocean freight rates. Sanctions on Russia with its aggression on Ukraine obviously affects cargo movement to and from that region, and [...]
In the midst of an early peak season and port congestion, carriers suspend containership calls to the Port of Oakland, according to Bill Mongelluzzo's reporting in the Journal of Commerce [...]
We've been watching freight rates rise to new heights, breaking record after record, for a year. Is it possible for freight rates to get worse? Yes. And they have. After a period of months with [...]
For years, ocean carriers struggled with overcapacity. It pushed freight rates low, and they lost billions. Over the last couple years, carriers learned more discipline with capacity. Over the [...]